Umm Zakiyyah

The author promises to revolutionize storytelling in this powerful story about three college students, one Christian and the others Muslim, who find themselves unlikely roommates at a small, private American university.

Excerpt

As Tamika situated the vacuum in the corner, her eyes grazed her reflection in the mirror. For a second, she barely recognized the young woman who stared back at her. The once meticulously sculpted mascara now created dark, ominous shadows around her eyes, making her appear almost ghostly in the glass. Her almond brown eyes were usually bright, almost jovial, but they now sat behind the shadowy gloom, hidden and distant, their kindness concealed by the stress that had greeted them, suggesting that beneath them was irrational emotion— anger waiting to unleash itself. Thin red welts swelled from her cheeks, likely the result of Jennifer’s irate fingernails scraping her skin, and although their presence should have suggested that she had been a victim, the blood stained scrapes instead made her appear almost vicious, intimating more a brutal branding than an injury. The honey brown of her face, normally smooth, seemed rough at the moment, her tightened, angry jaw only exacerbating the ferocious appearance. Fistfuls of permed hair protruded awkwardly from one side of her head, an unwanted complement to the now unkempt, loosened bun at the back of her head.

Had this threatening person who now stared back at Tamika been the young woman the security had seen and with whom they had spoken? Had she been the young woman with whom Jennifer had lived? If so, then perhaps, Tamika could see how a misunderstanding could have brewed. Unexpectedly, her reflection blurred, and before she could stop them, the tears fell, sliding slowly, then quickening, down her cheeks. Ashamed, she covered her face with her hands and let herself sob, her shoulders shaking with each cry, at that moment wishing she was anywhere else but school.

Copyright (c) 2001 by Al-Walaa Publications. All Rights Reserved.